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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24741928">With Hearts Beating</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/blackleaders/pseuds/blackleaders'>blackleaders</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Falling In Love, Late Night Conversations, Longing, Mutual Pining, Pining, Post-The Dream Thieves, They Care For Each Other So Much But Can't Do Much About It Yet</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 04:07:53</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,035</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24741928</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/blackleaders/pseuds/blackleaders</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Gansey's become accustomed to his phone ringing in the middle of the night with Blue on the other end of the line, but sometimes the world feels too big for the both of them. </p><p>  <i> Set between Dream Thieves and Blue Lily, Lily Blue</i></p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Richard Gansey III/Blue Sargent</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>29</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>With Hearts Beating</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I haven't even finished Blue Lily, Lily Blue yet, but these two already own my soul so here's a fic. Title is from Still by Daughter.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>His phone was ringing. Gansey woke easily, now used to these late-night phone calls. As he rolled over to retrieve it from his nightstand, he wondered if Ronan knew of them. No, not Ronan. If anyone knew, it was most likely Noah...and Noah was surprisingly good at keeping quiet with secrets.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Jane?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Tell me not to go.</span>
  </em>
  <span>” Blue’s voice was full of emotion, or as close to it as she typically allowed it to be in the presence of the boys. Her tone was quite a lot like her typical sensible one, but there was an edge to it. It reminded Gansey of Ronan, for some reason. So much happening beneath a surface that looked deceptively calm.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Go where?” was his response and even then he knew what she meant. It’d only been a few weeks since Maura had disappeared into Cabeswater. The new school year was fast approaching, and you needn’t be a psychic to feel Blue’s restlessness, hurt, and fear. Gansey knew what she was thinking, but also knew if she had to answer it aloud, sensibleness would likely overrule any impulsive decision to march to Cabeswater alone in the dead of night.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You know where!” Blue’s voice went up a notch. Gansey looked at his clock: it was well past midnight, now. There was no way she was home, not if she was willing to raise her voice high as she spoke freely of a scheme to go to Cabeswater alone. “It’s been </span>
  <em>
    <span>weeks</span>
  </em>
  <span> and we’re no closer —” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Where are you?” Gansey broke in, his voice gentle but firm. It wasn’t the sophisticated Gansey that Blue disliked so much, it wasn’t even like the Gansey who reigned Ronan in from fights. It was a Gansey meant just for her — meaning, a Gansey against his own set rules. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“In the parking lot.”</span>
</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>
  <span>He passed Noah on his way out; the latter was as smudgy as ever, sitting on the couch with a baleful expression. No doubt he’d already spoken to Blue outside. The two of them had a connection Gansey couldn’t quite comprehend, but it didn’t sting him the way her relationship with Adam had. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Blue was sitting on the ground, legs drawn up to her chest, back rested against the passenger door of the Pig. Gansey haltered in his step: it was true that, in stature, Blue was small, but she never appeared small. She took up as much room as Ronan could, she had a presence that could neither be ignored or denied because she wouldn’t let you.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>But now she looked as small and easily missed as Noah often did, and that’s when Gansey knew something was terribly, terribly wrong. He sat down on the ground next to her, turning over what to say in his head like he would turn the ignition switch on the Camaro, pleading with the engine to turn over.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>As she often did, Blue beat him to the punch. “What would happen, you think, if I did go?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gansey looked down at his feet. Wished he could take her hand, but the close proximity to home, to Ronan, made him hesitate. Holding hands were also firmly against the rules.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I think…” he began slowly, because he didn’t want to make things worse, and for Gansey, his best asset and worst weapon were his words. Even when he meant them to comfort, they stung like a hornet. He landed on the truth, because he knew Blue would appreciate it. “I think, then, we’d be looking for both you and your mother.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Blue met his gaze, held it. Her eyes were shining. “I’d be with her at least.” Her expression was torn and they both knew it was a lie, because Cabeswater was full of potential and never certainty, but the longing in Blue’s voice scared Gansey more than he was willing to fully admit to himself.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>His great reputation was for being able to find things, but for everything he’d found, he’d also lost something. His own life, the Ronan he first met, and even Adam. Ironically, the things Gansey had lost were also still tangibly in his reach, yet farther than he could ever grasp.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Adding Blue to that list was enough to make his heart crack, because if she were to disappear into Cabeswater, she’d be as far from his reach as Glendower was. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“If something happened to you,” Gansey began slowly, his voice low as if he were trading his darkest secret, and it shouldn’t have been. In another world, it was a simple truth they could both proclaim loudly, trade as easily as they could steal kisses, but tragically, they were still in this world, “I don’t know what I’d do.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Blue ducked her head, but not fast enough for Gansey to miss the tears that had welled down her cheeks. “You’d probably fall down a hole or something.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’d never find Glendower, for sure.” Gansey breathed, and it was the truth. He never felt close to Glendower until Blue found her way into the group. Like she was always meant to be in their life. It was a scary thought, full of certainty and magic, and it made his heart stammer in his chest.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Blue exhaled and leaned her head against Gansey’s shoulder. He stilled, remembering their not-kiss on the hills. He wondered if she was thinking of the same thing. If she were, she didn’t express it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>In a kinder world, Gansey allowed himself to think, he could kiss each of her knuckles, her eyelashes, the tip of her nose, the corners of her mouth, to ease her pain. To make her see how wonderful she was, how he could not bear the thought of her lost in Cabeswater. There was nothing sensible in their lives, but she grounded him. Blue was, somehow, a tether to this world for him. He wondered if, should she leave, he would simply float up and touch the stars.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Thank you.” Blue mumbled against his shirt sleeve, and he knew all would be alright for the time being, even if there was still mystery on the horizon, and his heart beat out a rhythm that pleaded for the Raven King to be found.</span>
</p><p>
  
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